Subject: U.S. Senate

• On Israel, Biden has a record, Palin has a flag

  September 8, 2008

• Dan Gelber "Steps Back" From Senate Race

  The notion of any real divisive, state-wide primaries in Florida seems to be dead, as state Sen. Den Gelber has announced that he's "stepping back" from the US Senate Race. Which more or less means he's out. He made the annoncement on his blog: It makes little sense -- when we do face the prospect of real change in Florida -- for me to participate in a potentially divisive primary for U.S. Senate that will only serve to diminish our chances against a very formidable and well-known R

  June 1, 2009

• Letters from the Issue of November 4-10, 2004

  November 4, 2004

• Dirty Money

  February 27, 1991

• With Sink's Senate Hopes down the Drain, Gelber Gears Up

  Alex Sink's decision not to enter the Senate fray was big news, but not all that shocking. We wrote yesterday it seemed she was much more keen on staying in Tallahassee, possibly running for governor in either 2010 or 2014. What is shocking is that now both sides of the field are more or less wide open (Charlie Crist put a bit of a damper on talks that he might run.) So sensing an opportunity, Democrat state Sen. Dan Gelber, who represents Miami Beach, is all but officially in the running. Lik

  January 16, 2009

• Dan Gelber's 100 Service Days Not At All Like Those Chiles & Graham Things, He Swears

  It's difficult to make the leap directly from the state Senate to a state-wide elected office. But it's not impossible. Lawton Chiles got elected to the US Senate in 1970 by taking a 91 day, 1,003 mile walking trip across Florida. Bob Graham was elected to Governor in 1978 after starting a Workdays program in which he worked full days at various jobs like teacher, garbageman and even busboy. This was when grassroots campaigners actually got outside once in a while to see the grass, and didn't sp

  February 9, 2009

• Death and Profits

  June 16, 1993

• Senate 2010: Who Is Winning The Netroots So Far?

  Oh, we know, we know, it's so early in the campaign, but with State Senator and US Senate Candidate Dan Gelber's announcement today that he'll Twitter his way through the 60 day legislative session up in Tallahassee, we decided to role out a feature we've been toying with for a while. So new is it that we don't even have some sort of catchy name for it (suggestions in the comments!), but basically we'll be tracking the net roots efforts of the 2010 Senate Candidates -- which at the moment amount

  February 24, 2009

• Hugh Had to Be There

  March 9, 1994

• Swelter

  March 30, 1994

• Why Aren't There Any Straight, White, Christian Dudes in the Senate Race?

  Did you hear openly gay North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns running for Senate? Silly gays, you can't even get married or adopt children. What makes you think you can be Senator? Actually, it's kind of sad that a he's become the "Gay candidate," and he wants to clear that up. The St. Pete Times' political editor Adam Smith sat down with the Mayor and pulled out a "So, you're a gay? Eh?" question. "Just like we're not going to refer to Mr. Meek as the Black candidate and Dan Ge

  March 12, 2009

• Meek Outraises Gelber By Over 3-to-1

  Warhol, ok. Both Democratic U.S. Senate candidates announced their fundraising haul for the first quarter of 2009 today. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who benefited from a few fundraising appearances by none other than Bill Clinton, raked in $1.49 million. That's roughly on track with other early, non-incumbent front runners from past election cycles. Meanwhile, his major competition, state Sen. Dan Gelber took in a respectable $400,000. Gelber's advisers were quick to point out that he's been hard

  April 1, 2009

• Hot New Senate Campaign Gimmick Alert: Petitions!

  These dang Florida Democrats can't seem to run for Senate without some sort of campaign gimmick. Lawton Chiles had his walk, Bob Graham had working days, and Dan Gelber is undertaking 100 days of public service. Rep. Kendrick Meek might be leading in fundraising, but he is totally losing in the gimmick department. Usually, candidates for Senate just pay the registration fee and are done with it, but there is an option to collect signatures in order to qualify. But no U.S. Senate candidate in Flo

  April 3, 2009

• The Boulder Boys Must Die

  September 21, 1995

• Homeland Security, No!

  November 27, 2008

• Ghost Repeater

  July 6, 2006

• Zen and the Art of Press Management

  June 16, 2005

• Letters from the Issue of June 2, 2005

  June 2, 2005

• Chick Cause Célèbre

  October 14, 2004

• Loaded

  September 23, 2004

• MAYOR X

  August 19, 2004

• Welcome to Fabulous Tallahassee

  April 22, 2004

• This Week's Day by Day Picks

  April 15, 2004

• BEST LOCAL GIRL MADE GOOD

  May 15, 2003

• Bare Floors

  October 3, 2002

• Best Local Boy Gone Bad

  May 17, 2001

• The Untold Story

  November 30, 2000

• Magic Primeval, Part 2

  November 23, 2000

• Letters

  June 10, 1999

• News of the Weird

  December 10, 1998

• Flying High

  February 26, 1998

• News of the Weird

  August 28, 1997

• News of the Weird

  December 5, 1996

• Either Argue or Cut Debate

  August 15, 1996

• The Week That Was: A Sense of Belonging

  This was a week where people were just trying to figure out where they belong. It was an awkward thing to watch, like tweens on their first day of middle school figuring out which lunch table to sit at. Jason Taylor knew deep, deep down that his heart belonged to Miami, and he was willing to come back at whatever (super reduced) price. Charlie Crist decided that he belonged far, far away from Florida in the US Senate. He will probably get there, sorry Marco Rubio. So the only question

  May 15, 2009

• Marco Rubio Takes a Swipe at Sonia Sotomayor

  May 28, 2009

• Former Newt Gingrich Staffer: Rubio's Run is Just Stupid

  via MyFloridaHouse.govSo today, some guy, literally some random conservative person, calls Marco Rubio the "Cuban Newt Gingrich." And then someone who used to actually work with Gingrich calls Rubio's uphill battle against Charlie Crist "stupid." Matt Towery used to be a political strategist for Gingrich himself and heads up a new non-partisan polling corporation when he's not busy writing political columns. Today he told the Times/Herald that his Senate r

  June 5, 2009

• Dan Gelber Enters Attorney General Race

    Running for U.S. Senate against Charlie Crist isn't an enviable task, and when you're not even guarenteed to win the primary, it's probably a smart move to get out. That's what state Sen. Dan Gelber (D-Miami Beach) did, and now he has changed lanes and entered the attorney general's race. All he had to do was replace all mentions of "for senate" with "for attorney general" on his website and he was ready to go. That's his announcement video up top. He'll also face state Sen. Dave Aronberg i

  June 8, 2009

• Manny Diaz Endorses Kendrick Meek for Senate

  Rep. Kendrick Meek added another impressive entry to his list of endorsement of US Senate today as City of Miami Mayor, and president of the US Conference of Mayor, Manny Diaz announced his endorsement. The press release came with equal amounts of back patting on the part of both men. "Congressman Kendrick Meek is a leader in Congress who knows that placing unfair financial burdens and unfunded mandates on our cities is a practice that must end. Cities are being asked to do

  June 11, 2009

• Marco Rubio Gets Support of the Dick Armey

  I know it's so easy to make fun of Dick Armey's name (Vagina Coastguard, thanks Family Guy), that even Dick Armey has done it himself. Dave Barry, of all people, once asked Armey if that was really his name. "Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a dick army, Barney Frank would want to join up," Armey replied. Frank, of course, is the openly gay congressman from New York. He also likes making fun of other people's names. He once said Barack Obama's name could "give people concerns that he

  July 14, 2009

• Mel Martinez Will Resign

  ​Woah, boy. Grumpy Sen. Mel Martinez has apparently had enough of this "serving the people" stuff. Several sources report he will resign, possibly as early as today. His term would expire in early 2011, and he had previously promised to serve the rest of it. But the race to replace him had already begun, with Gov. Charlie Crist as the current leader in polls and fundraising.Usually in Senate races where there's such a powerful early frontrunner such as Crist, there's not much drama. But the Fl

  August 7, 2009

• Lincoln Diaz-Balart Won't Pursue Senate Seat

  Lincoln Diaz-BalartRep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has announced he won't pursue Mel Martinez's open Senate seat. Gov. Charlie Crist had sent Diaz-Balart an application of sorts for the job. His announcement also puts to rest any crazy political musical chairs rumors his open House seat could have set off."It was a great honor to be considered by Governor Crist for appointment to the United States Senate. After giving the governor's request serious consideration and deliberation, I have decided to rema

  August 18, 2009

• Dan Webster Added to Senate Shortlist

  Charlie Crist has added former state legislator Dan Webster to his ever-growing shortlist of possible Senate appointees. The Central Florida political vet has already said he'd be open to the job, because "it would be prety cool." Webster served in the Florida House for 18 years and became the first Republican speaker of the house in 122 years. He then sought a state Senate seat and served in that arm for ten years, including a stint as majority leader. He flirted with running for

  August 20, 2009

• Ted Kennedy: A South Florida (Not So) Elegy

  ​Okay, I acknowledge Ted Kennedy did great things in the US Senate. He was a leader and a charmer.Health care would probably be done by now if he hadn't suffered, then died last night, from a brain tumor. But, like everybody else, he showed his dirty side down here in the subtropics. Back in 1991, he accompanied his nephew, serial lady abuser William Kennedy Smith, to Au Bar in Palm Beach. The younger Kennedy, then age 30, picked up 29 year old Patricia Bowman and brought her back to the K

  August 26, 2009

• Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek Simply Do Not Care for This LeMieux Character

  ​Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek have only a few things in common: They're both running for Senate. They'll both likely face Charlie Crist. They'll both likely lose to him. And now they both don't very much like George LeMieux's status as newly minted senator. Politically, this is just about the only thing you could ever expect them to agree on. Here's Rubio's reaction, in which he calls LeMieux Charlie Crist's BFF: "This is a disappointing appointment for Florida. George LeM

  August 28, 2009

• News Roundup

  Over the weekend, pretty much every newspaper editorial board in the state wrote mean things about new Sen. George LeMieux. [Buzz]Oh, and word on the street is LeMieux might be interested in running for U.S. Senate against Bill Nelson in 2012, or for attorney general. [Buzz]Debbie Wasserman Schultz held a telephone town-hall meeting and publicly declared her love for the public option. [SunSent]Robert Schindler Jr., father of Terri Schiavo, died of heart failure over the weekend. [UPI]

  August 31, 2009

• Glades Invaders

  September 3, 2009

• Florida: 47th Most Powerful State in DC

  ​Florida ranks 47th our of the 50 states in terms of influence and seniority in the US Congress according to an analysis by The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. A dismal ranking by any means, but even more so considering we're the 4th most populace state. Our legislators have less swagger on the hill than those from tiny states like Vermont and Rhode Island -- States where the total population is less than half of all of Miami-Dade County. The Herald-Tribune took into account Roll Call's annual i

  September 9, 2009

• Even Blagojevich Criticizes Crist's Senate Pick

  Rod Blagojevich criticizing anyone for making a shady appointment to a Senate seat is sort of like Kanye West chastising someone for awards-show misbehavior. But then again, egomaniacs aren't really that self-aware. Blago went on Fox and Friends this morning to pimp his upcoming book and argued he wasn't trying to sell Barack Obama's empty seat but rather, according to The Hill, "he was merely trying to use his state's open Senate seat as leverage to create new jobs and prevent a futu

  September 14, 2009

• Maurice Ferre Officially Enters Senate Race

  If you asked us a few months ago which Miami mayor would make a Senate run, we would have guessed Manny Diaz. Boy, would we have been wrong. Maurice Ferre, who was mayor from 1973 to 1985, has officially thrown his hat into the ring to challenge Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary.Ferre promised to make an announcement about a possible Senate run "the modern way." And what do you know -- today we received an email (modern technology, that right there) titled "Maurice Ferre Announces Candidac

  October 7, 2009